U.S.: American Merrill Newman 'in hand' after he's 'deported' from North Korea

By Greg Botelho, CNN

Updated 12:32 AM ET, Sat December 7, 2013

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Jason Rezaian – Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post bureau chief in Tehran; his wife Yeganeh Salehi and two freelance journalists were detained on July 22, 2014, according to the newspaper. An Iranian official confirmed to CNN at the time that the group was being held by authorities but did not say what they were charged with.

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Saeed Abedini – A 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013. He was accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches. He was detained in Iran on September 26, 2012, according to the American Center for Law and Justice.

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Robert Levinson – Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN in January that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority. The FBI increased its reward for information on Levinson from $1 million to $5 million, it announced in March.

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Amir Hekmati – An Iranian court threw out a 2011 death sentence forAmir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he was secretly retried in Iran and convicted of "practical collaboration with the U.S. government," his sister told CNN on April 11. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, she said. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother. His family and the Obama administration deny accusations he was spying for the CIA.

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Joshua Boyle and Caitlin Coleman – Mothers Linda Boyle, left, and Lyn Coleman hold photo of their married children, Joshua Boyle and Caitlin Coleman, who were kidnapped by the Taliban in late 2012. Coleman was pregnant when she was kidnapped and is believed to have had a child in captivity.

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Mohamed Soltan – Jailed since 2013 and sentenced to life for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohamed Soltan has been released, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said on Saturday, May 30, 2015. Soltan's family denies he belonged to the Brotherhood. Soltan had been a dual U.S. and Egyptian citizen, but renounced his Egyptian citizenship as a condition of his release.

Jeffrey Edward Fowle – One of three Americans detained in North Korea, Fowle was released and sent home, a State Department official told CNN on Tuesday, October 21. Fowle was accused of leaving a Bible in a hotel where he was staying. North Korea announced Fowle's detention in June, saying he had violated the law by acting "contrary to the purpose of tourism." Fowle told CNN: "I've admitted my guilt to the government and signed a statement to that effect and requested forgiveness from the people and the government of the DPRK."

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Kenneth Bae – In May 2013, a North Korean court sentenced Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. North Korea claimed Bae was part of a Christian plot to overthrow the regime. In a short interview with CNN on Monday, September 1, Bae said he is working eight hours a day, six days a week at a labor camp. "Right now what I can say to my friends and family is, continue to pray for me," he said. After months in detention, he and fellow American detainee Matthew Todd Miller were released in November 2014.

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Matthew Todd Miller – Miller, the American sentenced to six years of hard labor in North Korea began serving his six-year sentence on September 25. He was one of three Americans detained in North Korea who spoke to CNN's Will Ripley in September 2014 and implored the U.S. government for help. The 24-year-old was accused of tearing up his tourist visa and seeking asylum upon entry. He and Kenneth Bae were released in November 2014.

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Peter Theo Curtis – American journalist Peter Theo Curtis was handed over to U.N. peacekeepers on August 24 after nearly two years in captivity. He is believed to have been captured in October 2012 and held by the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group with ties to al Qaeda.

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Alan Gross – Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier was jailed while working as a subcontractor in Cuba in December 2009. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf. He was eventually released in December 2014.

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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl – This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Bergdahl, who had been held by insurgents in Afghanistan since 2009. The White House announced Bergdahl's release on May 31, 2014. Bergdahl was released in exchange for five senior Taliban members held by the U.S. military. In March the U.S. military charged Bergdahl with one count each of "Desertion with Intent to Shirk Important or Hazardous Duty," and "Misbehavior Before The Enemy by Endangering the Safety of a Command, Unit or Place."

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Merrill Newman – U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport on December 7, 2013, after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained in October 2013 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman said the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency.

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Yanira Maldonado – Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, in May 2013, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released a few days later and is now back in the United States.

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Laura Ling and Euna Lee – North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.

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Aijalon Gomes – Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.

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Eddie Yong Su Jun – Detained in April 2011, Junwas released by North Korea a month afterward. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.

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Robert Park – Without any apparent U.S. intervention, Park was released by North Korea in 2010. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.

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Josh Fattal, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer – Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted.

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Haleh Esfandiari – Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was detained at Iran's Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.

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Robert Becker – Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial. He spent two years in prison and has since returned to the U.S.

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Timothy Tracy – Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April 2013 on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June 2013.

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Story highlights

Newman's son confirms that the released American is on his way home

Video shows Newman smiling as he walks through Beijing's airport

The 85-year-old was detained in North Korea in October, issued a public apology

State news reports Newman was released for "humanitarian" reasons

Merrill Newman -- the 85-year-old American detained by North Korean authorities earlier this fall -- has been "deported," North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported early Saturday.

His son announced late Friday that he is on his way home to the United States. "We are absolutely delighted to confirm that Merrill Newman is on his way home," Jeff Newman said.

A senior Obama administration official said soon after the North Korean announcement that U.S. authorities have Newman "in hand." State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf subsequently tweeted that U.S. Embassy officials met "Newman at the airport in Beijing and provided all appropriate consular assistance." Video showed him smiling as he walked past a cavalcade of reporters through the Chinese capital's airport.

The out-of-the-blue release became all the more real for Newman's relatives in the United States shortly before 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET), when they talked with Merrill by phone, his family said.

The KCNA report stated that investigators determined that "Newman entered the DPRK with a wrong understanding of it and perpetrated a hostile act against it."

"Taking into consideration his admittance of the act committed by him on the basis of his wrong understanding (and the) apology made by him for it, his sincere repentance of it and his advanced age and health condition, the above-said institution deported him from the country from a humanitarian viewpoint," the official North Korean report added.

On Thursday, Harf said American officials had spoken the previous day with relatives of Newman and Kenneth Bae, another American being held in North Korea, but added little else.

Hours later, Harf issued a statement saying Washington was "pleased that Mr. Merrill Newman has been allowed to depart the DPRK and rejoin his family."

"We welcome the DPRK's decision to release him. This positive decision by the DPRK throws into sharper relief the continuing detention of ... Bae," she added. "... We call on the DPRK once again to pardon and grant Mr. Bae special amnesty and immediately release him as a humanitarian gesture so that he too can return home to his family."

Coincidence or not, the news of Newman's release came on the day that Vice President Joe Biden was in South Korea, where he was to lay a wreath at a memorial for veterans of the war that pitted North Korea against its southern neighbor as well as the United States.

Biden told reporters in South Korea that he "played no direct role" in the release. He added that his office offered to let Newman fly home with him on Air Force Two, but State Department officials said he'd take a direct commercial flight to San Francisco.

"It's a positive thing they've done," said the vice president, who talked Saturday morning by phone with Newman, according to another Obama administration official. "But they still have Mr. Bae, who has no reason being held in the North (and) should be released immediately."

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has undertaken private diplomatic efforts with North Korea seemed more perturbed over Newman's detention than he was pleased at his release.

"While the release of Merrill Newman is welcome news indeed, he never should have been detained in the first place. The North Koreans should also release Kenneth Bae as a humanitarian gesture," Richardson said in a statement.

According to his family, Newman went on a 10-day organized private tour of North Korea in October. From phone calls and postcards he sent, the trip was going well and there was no indication of any kind of problem, son Jeff Newman said.

The day before the Palo Alto, California, resident was to leave, "one or two Korean authorities" met with Newman and his tour guide, the son added. They talked about Newman's service record, which left "my dad ... a bit bothered," according to Jeff Newman.

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Then, just minutes before his Beijing-bound plane was set to depart Pyongyang in late October, he was taken off the aircraft by North Korean authorities.

For weeks, the Pyongyang government didn't explain why they were holding Newman.

An explanation came a few days ago, when state media published and broadcast what they described as the Korean War veteran's "apology." In fact, that word -- "apology" -- was written atop the first of four handwritten pages detailing his alleged indiscretions.

In the note -- which was dated November 9 -- Newman talked about his having advised the Kuwol Unit, part of the "intelligence bureau" fighting against Pyongyang during the Korean War. He detailed how he commanded troops to collect "information" and wage various deadly attacks.

"After I killed so many civilians and (North Korean) soldiers and destroyed strategic objects in the DPRK during the Korean War, I committed indelible offensive acts against the DPRK government and Korean people," Newman said, according to that KCNA report.

The reported message also touched on his return 60 years later to North Korea, admitting that he "shamelessly ... had a plan to meet any surviving soldiers and pray for the souls of the dead soldiers."

His statement ended: "If I go back to (the) USA, I will tell the true features of the DPRK and the life the Korean people are leading."

This public apology -- which University of California, Berkeley, professor Steve Weber characterized as "highly scripted political theater" -- left some wondering what would happen to Newman.

Would he join Bae, an American arrested in North Korea in November 2012 who last May was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after North Korea's government found him guilty of "hostile acts" and attempts to topple the government?

Or would he be released?

As Weber said days ago: "When it comes to North Korea, nobody knows very much."

Pyongyang has long been regarded by many as a repressive state, with its insularity, sharp restrictions on speech and other freedoms, and decades of saber-rattling primarily targeting its chief foes, South Korea and the United States.

Its isolation is exacerbated by widespread uproar over its nuclear program. The East Asian nation's reported quest to create a nuclear weapon, as well as its resistance to international monitoring of its activities, have resulted in economic sanctions, compounding difficulties in getting enough energy and food for its people.

But there have been some indications of change of late. Is Newman's release signal even more of an opening by Pyongyang? Will it lead to even more of a thaw?

Given the ups and mostly downs in these relationships, it's hard to tell now what will happen.

Still, this news affects the global political landscape, at the least it appears that the Newman family -- including Merrill's wife, Lee, who last month told CNN that "we need to have Merrill back at the head of the table for the holidays" -- should be complete once again.